James cosmo newbery and claude theodore james vatjtin



(No Model.)

J. 0. NEWBERY & 0. T. J. VAUTIN. METHOD OF GHLORIDIZING FINELY DIVIDBD AURIPBROUS MATERIALS.

Patented Apr. 10, 1888.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES OOSMO NElVBERY AND CLAUDE THEODORE JAMES VAUTIN, OF

LONDON, ENGLAND.

METHOD OF CHLORIDIZING FlNELY-DIVIDED AURIFEROUS MATERIALS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Fatent No. 380,920, dated April 10, 1888.

Application filed May 4, 1887. Serial No. 237,146. (No specimens.) Patented in Victoria March 29, 1886. No. 4,484; in South Australia Aprill, 1886, No. 669; in New Zealand April 12, 1886, No. 1,786; in New South Wales May 28, 1886 in Queensland June 28, 1886,No.10'1; in Tasmania September 4, 1886, N0. 491; in England March .28, 1887, No. 1,609; in France May 31, 1887,

No. 183,012, and in Belgium June l, 1887, No. 77,679.

Vania-m.

To all ivhom it may concern:

,Be it known that we, JAMES CosMo NEW- BERY, a subject of the Queen of Great Britain, lately residing at Melbourne, in the (lolony ofVictoria, residing now at London, Eng land, and CLAUDE THEODORE JAMES VAU- TIN, a subject of the Queen of Great Britain, lately residing at St. Kilda, in the Colony of Victoria, residing now at London, England, have in vented certain new and useful Improvements in the Method of Ohloridizing Finely- Divided Auriferous Material, (for which We have obtained Letters Patent in Victoria, No. 4,484, dated March 29, 1886; South Australia, No. 669, dated April 1, 1886; New Zealand, No. 1,786, dated April 12, 1886; New South Wales, dated May 28, 1886;. Queensland, No. 107, dated June 28, 1886; Tasmania, N o. 421, dated September 4, 1886; Great Britain, No. 4,609, dated March 28, 1887 France, N 0. 183,912, dated May 31, 1887, and Belgium, No. 77,679, dated June 1, 1887,) of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to the separation of gold from auriferous minerals by what is generallyknown as the wet process. As iswell known, this process consists, essentially, in subjecting the auriferous material to the action of a reagent either in solution or in the form of a gas to convert the gold into a soluble salt, in which condition it may be leached or dissolved out of the ore or mineral matter. It is also known that the reagents will act more promptly and rapidly when applied under pressure.

pressurethan it will at normal atmospheric pressure, and this pressure has heretofore been obtained by the use of an excess of the gas, which excess is, however, unavailable except in producing a certain pressure. r

The great objections to the wet processes of extracting gold from auriferous materials, as heretofore carried out, are the length of time required to complete the conversion and the length of time required to draw off or filter For instance, in the process 7 of chlorination the chlorine will act more. promptly and effectually when applied under the solution from the mineral and the incomplete action of the chlorine upon the gold.

The object of this invention is to overcome these difficulties; and it consists in a novel process of chlorination, substantially as hereinafter described, and as set forth in the claim. In the old processes of chlorination-such as those of Plattner, De Lacy, Mears, and Langloisthe pressure in the chlorinator is carefully kept below that which Will liquefy the chlo rine. We have discovered that by maintaining the pressure in the chlorinator at such a degree as to liquefy practically or substantially the whole of the chlorine and maintaining it in that state the reaction proceeds not only with greater rapidity, but is more complete-in fact, so complete that the loss in gold is practically nothing.

In the process of Plattner, of which this, as well as those of Langlois, Mears, De Lacy, and others are improvements, the auriferous material is first practically freed from sulphur, arsenic, antimony, &c., by roasting. It is then damped-an operation that requires great care, as the ore must not be too wet nor too dry if good results are to be obtained. It is then sifted into a large vat and chlorine gas is admitted through a false bottom and allowed to rise up through and permeate the ore. This requires many hours to effect. The vat is then closed, and, as suggested by improvers of the Plattner process, an excess of chlorine gas is forced into the vat to maintain the contents under a given pressure.

In carrying out our process we dump a charge of roasted ore, no matter how wet or dry it is, into the chlorinator. A given quantity of water is then added and the chlorinator is closed. Chlorine gas is now forced into the chlorinator, the volume of which will depend upon the per centum of gold in the material treated. The flow of gas is then cut off and air is forced into the chlorinator until the pressure-is such as to liquefy,practically, all the chlorine gas. Ordinarily a pressure of about four atmospheres will be found sufficient. This pressure is maintained until the reaction or conversion of the gold into a soluble chloride and its solution in the water added to the charge is complete. Should any of the chlorine gas not be liquefied, itwill be forced into the water with which the ore is mixed. There is, therefore, not only'a great saving in chlorine, but the chemical reaction is greatly accelerated.

Asheretoforeconducted,the opcrationofseparating the solution of the salt of the precious metals consisted,simply,in filtering off said solution and adding water to wash out all of the soluble salt. This process also requires many hours-usually from twelve to twenty-four. In order to accelerate this process we dump the material from the ehlorinator onto a filterbed in a suitable vat, the bottom of which, beloW the filter-bed, is hermetically closed. The chamber formed between said bottom and the filter-bed is connected with an exhauster-preferably a suction and force pump--so that at each stroke of the pump a pulsation is produced in the air and liquid in the chamber and connections,whieh pulsation is communicated to the material on the filter-bed,whereby a jigging or vibrating motion is imparted thereto, that greatly accelerates the separation of the solution from the mineral matter, water being of course added to the surface of the material in the vat to wash outall the soluble salt. 7

Any suitable apparatus may be employed in carrying out this process. WVe have shown in the accompanying drawing so much of a plant in elevation as will be necessary to the full understanding of the mode of carrying out said process.

indicates the ehlorinator, which is here shown of cylindrical form, though it may be of any desired form in cross section. The ehlorinator should be constructed of or lined with a material not affected by chlorine, and is provided with a suitable charging and discharging orifice or man-holes closed bya tight cover, 0, also with a manometer, c.

P is the pump connected with the chlorinator by-coupled pipep, and with the receiver R by a like pipe, 1), said pipes being provided with suitable stop'cocks, s s and 8', respectively, for obvious purposes. The connections are such that either the ehlorinator or the receiver may be placed in communication with the pump.

V is a vessel containing a solution of soda or other chlorine absorbent. It is connected with the ehlorinator by a pipe, 192, provided with stop-cocks 8 8 I Thechlorinatorshouldbeofsufiicientstrength to resist a pressure equal to that required to liquefy the chlorine gasabout sixty pounds to the square inch. It is charged with pulverized and preferably with previously-roasted ore. Water is then added thereto and chlorine forced into the ehlorinator or chlorine producing chemicals are added to the charge. The

the fineness ofthe gold.

man-hole is then securely closed and connection made between the ehlorinator and airpump, and air is forced into the ehlorinator until such pressure is reached as will liquefy the whole or substantially the whole of the chlorine forced into or generated in the chlorinator. The ehlorinator is now disconnected from the pipes leading to the vessel V and pump P, and rotated on its journals either by hand through the medium of the crank O or by pulley and belt from the prime motor that drives the pump.

With a charge of from twenty to thirty hundred-weight the conversion of the metal into a soluble chloride will be complete in about one hour, though this will depend on is complete, the ehlorinator is turned into position to discharge the contents thereof into the receiver R. Before this is done the pipe leading to the vessel V is again connected with the ehlorinator, and the stop-cockss 8 opened to allow any chlorine not liquefied to pass to the vessel V to be absorbed by its contents. If desired, the vessel V may also be connected with the, pump to draw the gases from the chlorinator into said vessel. The contents of the ehlorinator are then dumped into the receiver R, which is provided with a perforated false bottom,and the solution is drawn by pump 1? into vessel V.

Water is continually added to the ore in the receiver R to thoroughly leach out the chloride solution, which is tested from time to time as it leaves the pump, and when free from gold the pump is stopped and the communica: tion between it and the receiver cut off. The solution of gold in vessel V is then allowed to flow through charcoal in a vessel, V to decompose the chloride, the gold being recovered in a well-known manner.

The waste lye from the converter may, if desired, be used for the treatment of further batches of ore, and the chlorine may be re covered from the lye in vessel V.

Having described our invention, what we claim is- The herein-described process of separating precious metals from their ores by chlorination, which consists in introducing chlorine into or mixing an agent capable of generating chlorine with a charge of pulverized ore and water in a closed vessel, then forcing air into said vessel under a sufficient pressure to liquefy the chlorine gas, substantially as described, for the purpose specified.

J. COSMO NEWBERY. Witnesses:

Enwn. "WATERs, WALKER C. HART.

CLAUDE THEODORE JAMES VAUTIN. Witnesses:

RICHARD A. HOFFMANN, HENRY J. FULLER.

When the conversion. 

